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mason should be the first to come off the bench if popovich starts manu.
Roger Mason’s Comfort Zone
by Graydon Gordian
After the most active offseason in recent memory, It’s odd to remember that last offseason’s marquee free agent signing was Roger Mason, Jr. Over the last three months he may be one of the team’s least mentioned members. I was supportive of his signing: A confident defender and perimeter crack shot who was still south of 30 seemed like a fine, system-oriented addition that would pay dividends down the line. We also believed that he had the ability to replace Brent Barry as a backup point in the crunch, which proved only partially true.
Mason’s ‘08-09 season can be divided into two distinct periods: Pre- and post-Manu’s season ending injury. During the former, Mason showed himself to be one of the league’s clutchest shooters, hitting big shot after big shot after big shot. One could argue with a straight face that, for Spurs fans, last season’s three best memories feature Mason. As his late-game heroics against the Clippers also showed, he had the ability to handle the ball in a limited but nonetheless effective manner.
In this case, the adjective’s limited and effective are inextricably linked. After Manu got hurt and Popovich inexplicably lost faith in George Hill, Mason’s role expanded from situational point forward to full blown back-up point guard. This was a regrettable development for both the team and Mason. He was woefully underprepared to bring the ball up 10+ minutes a game, and I believe that added responsibility caused his shooting to suffer as well. He could oftentimes be found out of position and out of rhythm, and was shooting from farther behind the arc with an ever greater number of hands in his face.
But I am confident that this season will be different, and the Roger Mason we saw through February will make it into May and (hopefully) early June.
I think Popovich recognizes how truly limited Mason’s distributing and ball-handling abilities are. Mason’s limitations are the flip-side of the Pop-overworked-Tony coin. With George Hill’s continued maturation and Manu’s return, Mason should automatically be fourth in line for ball-handling duties. If Marcus Williams makes the team, push Mason to fifth.
If that projected pecking order is accurate and he isn’t burdened with point duties, he’ll remain inside his comfort zone. There are few catch-and-shoot guys in the league I’d rather have than Mason. If his first reaction when he receives a pass is a quick release and nothing more, he’ll flourish.
mason should be the first to come off the bench if popovich starts manu.
This thread needs more DEJUAN BLAIR!
Every thread needs more Dejuan Blair tbh
lol agree
As much as I like Roger Mason, I've never heard anyone talk about his "defensive prowess" before...
That validates how dead on this article is.
I'm very intrigued to see Roger on the floor with Tony and Richard slashing, Tim drawing doubles down low and McDyess ability to spread the floor out to 18 feet. There should be a lot of room for Roger to slip into the seams of the defense. This season he shouldn't have to do anything that involves more than 3 or 4 dribbles.
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